Bit late for a New Year moan …..

……. but I am now sober ……     

……  so did anyone over forty-five years of age enjoy the BBC offerings for the New Year?       

I was looking forward to the "chookter" music of fiddles and accordion with the odd bagpipe thrown in …….   

……… and all I get on BBC1 is some egotistical pop-star (who couldn't be bothered to shave) wailing away  ……..   

…….  and even managing to do a duet with himself to prove his ego is bigger than his talent  ……    

…….  whilst on BBC2 there was one of the least personable people I have ever accidentally tuned into …….   

…...  plugging minority music under the American based word "Hootenanny" ……..   

…..  and all of this was followed by more fireworks than we could possibly afford if we really are a nation in the throes of austerity!!   

Happy New Year??   Oh yeah!!       

Best regards,
 

My, my, we are grumpy this morning Ian........  

We watched Jools Holland on BBC2 and enjoyed it as usual - I wouldn't call the artists minority really; he usually has a good selection across all tastes and it usually works if you can forgive the tacky approach to things. Oh, and there were plenty of bagpipes

I helps to prove that you can't please all the people all the time

DuxDeluxe wrote:My, my, we are grumpy this morning Ian........  

…………………..

Dux,

I think the term is "sober" …….. !!    

The diet (and reduced wine intake) started this morning - again!!   

Even less than sober I can't stand Jules Holland's voice which, to my ear, grates like a whining child.   

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!     

  
Ian

Brilliant! I just knew you had a reason!! I agree about Jools Holland's nasally voice but just tune it out and enjoy the music. Cheers and a happy new year

Dutto wrote:……. but I am now sober ……     



…..  and all of this was followed by more fireworks than we could possibly afford if we really are a nation in the throes of austerity!!   

Happy New Year??   Oh yeah!!       

Best regards,
 

Funnily enough I did make the very same comment to Swmbo. We could have kept a dozen A&E's open for that money   

I think the fireworks were paid for by a sponsoring company, not the government, but not totally certain of that

DuxDeluxe wrote:I think the fireworks were paid for by a sponsoring company, not the government, but not totally certain of that

That does make me feel better  Replace the word 'government' with 'us' though   

DuxDeluxe wrote:I think the fireworks were paid for by a sponsoring company, not the government, but not totally certain of that

If you are correct then I consider that to be even worse!!   

What UK Company is making so much profit that they can put on a show like that; and didn't the Shareholders complain at such squandering of profits and therefore dividends?     

Maybe the Board is so arrogant that they didn't even ask; or maybe it was one of those privatised companies that are now solely owned by overseas investors who just want to flaunt the profits made from the long suffering British public!   

It would be nice to know!   

Best regards,
 

All in the marketing budget...... You should see some of the things that we have spent on....

Usually a very detailed cost/benefit analysis is done before funds are committed. I've had some really good ones knocked back because I couldn't prove the benefit

Dux,

Ah, the much loved "Marketing Budget" almost as good for abuse as the "Expenses Budget"!   

I did a bit of research and apparently the sponsoring company was Vodaphone.  It is up there in the Top-Ten of dodgy companies and despite being "a British multinational telecommunications company headquartered in London" it seems to have a particular aversion to paying UK Tax.

The Wikipedia "Criticisms" section about the company states:

"………….  it was eventually agreed that Vodafone would pay £1.25 billion related to the acquisition. Based on Vodafone's accounts, experts have estimated the potential tax bill written off as a result of the negotiations was over £6 billion."


Ah well, I guess we could all get rich if we only paid about one-fifth of the tax we owed and it must be much easier to get favours by paying for a multi-million pound firework display than to trudge around London distributing brown envelopes!   

Or am I being cynical again?     

Best regards,
 

References:

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/12/londons-new-years-eve-will-feature-edible-confetti-and-scented-fireworks/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodafone

Hi Ian i use Vodophone , so i suppose i was paying for one or two sparklers.However i watched some of my neighbors spend their hard earned cash on fireworks.
regards
mike
go with the flow.